In Luck at Last eBook

“What is going to happen to me, grandfather,
except that I shall be twenty-one?”

“We shall see to-morrow. Patience, my dear—­patience.”

He spread out his hands and laughed. What was
going to happen to himself was a small thing compared
with the restoration of Iris to her own.

“Mr. Emblem,” said Arnold, “I also
have something of importance to say.”

“You, too, Mr. Arbuthnot? Cannot yours
wait also until to-morrow?”

“No; it is too important. It cannot wait
an hour.”

“Well, sir”—­Mr. Emblem pushed
up his spectacles and leaned back in his chair—­“well,
Mr. Arbuthnot, let us have it.”

“I think you may guess what I have to say, Mr.
Emblem. I am sure that Lala Roy has already guessed
it.”

The philosopher inclined his head in assent.

“It is that I have this afternoon asked Iris
to marry me, Mr. Emblem. And she has consented.”

“Have you consented, Iris, my dear?” said
her grandfather.

She placed her hand in Arnold’s for reply.

“Do you think you know him well enough, my dear?”
Mr. Emblem asked gravely, looking at her lover.
“Marriage is a serious thing: it is a partnership
for life. Children, think well before you venture
on the happiness or ruin of your whole lives.
And you are so young. What a pity—­what
a thousand pities that people were not ordained to
marry at seventy or so!”

“We have thought well,” said Arnold.
“Iris has faith in me.”

“Then, young man, I have nothing to say.
Iris will marry to please herself, and I pray that
she may be happy. As for you, I like your face
and manners, but I do not know who you are, nor what
your means may be. Remember that I am poor—­I
am so poor—­I can tell you all now, that
to-morrow we shall—­well, patience—­to-morrow
I shall most likely have my very stock seized and
sold.”

“Your stock sold? Oh, grandfather!”
cried Iris; “and you did not tell me! And
I have been so happy.”

“Friend,” said Lala, “was it well
to hide this from me?”

“Foolish people,” Mr. Emblem went on,
“have spread reports that I am rich, and have
saved money for Iris. It is not true, Mr. Arbuthnot.
I am not rich. Iris will come to you empty-handed.”

“And as for me, I have nothing,” said
Arnold, “except a pair of hands and all the
time there is. So we have all to gain and nothing
to lose.”

“You have your profession,” said Iris,
“and I have mine. Grandfather, do not fear,
even though we shall all four become poor together.”

It seemed natural to include Lala Roy, who had been
included with them for twenty years.

“As for Iris being empty-handed,” said
Arnold, “how can that ever be? Why, she
carries in her hands an inexhaustible cornucopia, full
of precious things.”

“My dear,” said the old man, holding out
his arms to her, “I could not keep you always.
Some day I knew you would leave me; it is well that
you should leave me when I am no longer able to keep
a roof over your head.”